Offset press cylinder adjusting and gauging construction



March 31, 1942. [I R HQLTZ 2,278,312

OFFSET PRESS CYLINDER ADJUSTING AND GAUGING CONSTRUCTION Filed Sept. 25, 1940 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR. Ray f? Ha/fz ATTORNE Y5 March 31, 1942. R. F. HOLTZ ,2

I OFFSET PRESS CYLINDER ADJUSTING AND GAUGING CONSTRUCTION Filed Sept. 23, 1940 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 J I L Q-M U' I h Q\% a WR E ./V\\ v- O INVENTOR.

AT TORNE Y5 Patented Mar. 31, 1942 OFFSETIPRESS CYLINDER ADJUSTING AND 4 GAUGING CONSTRUCTION Ray F. Holtz, Mount Lebanon, Pa., assignor to The Lithograph Press Manufacturing Company, Pittsburgh, Pa., a corporation of Penn sylvania Application September 23, 1940 Serial No. 357,890

4. Claims.

This invention relates to cylinder lithographing or printing presses and especially to presses of this type such as oiTset presses in which the pressure between contacting cylinders must be precisely controlled. For this. purpose the contacting cylinders are frequently provided with bearing rollers mounted at the 'ends of each cylinder and maintained in directrolling contact, such rollers serving to maintain with great accuracy the spacing of the cylinders and thereby to provide the proper pressure between the contacting cylinder surfaces. With this arrangement, however, such pressure is obtained :only when the cylinders, including. plates, rubber covers and the like carried thereby,.' are bf exactly the correct diameter. If the rubber cover, for instance, is not of the proper thickness, the pressure will not be correct. If the cover is too thin it has heretofore been necessary to underlay the coverin order to bring-the cylinder up to the proper. overall .diametenlan operation which involves considerable. trouble. On the other hand, if the rubber cover should be. too thick it cannot be used until its thickness is reduced.

Another objection to the indicated construction is due to the fact that the' spacing ofthe cylinders is aiTected not only by the bearing rollers, but also by the cylinder bearings, so that the rollers have had a tendency to introduce difficulties in the operation of the cylinder bearings. I

A general purpose of this invention is to provide an improved arrangement in which the spacing and pressure of contacting cylinders of such presses can be properly established regardless of variations in the overall diameters of such cylinders, thereby eliminating the necessity for underlaying rubber cylinder covers, and permitting the use of such covers exceeding the standard thickness. Y An important feature is the provision of improved means for rapidly and accurately determining the proper cylinder spacing.

This is in general accomplished by eliminating or cutting down the bearing rollers, so that'they are out of contact during operation, and providing means for adjusting the cylinder spacing in accordance with the overall diameters of contacting cylinders. The accuracy of such adjustment is, moreover, determined rapidly and conveniently by providing cooperating cylindrical gauge members mounted at registering ends of contacting cylinders and coaxial therewith, the aligned cylindrical surfaces of the members being spaced by a slight distance advantageously within the range of ordinary feeler gauges. With this construction the proper adjustment can be determined with great accuracy, and different gauge blades may be provided for rubber cylinder covers or plates of different thicknesses The gauge members are advantageously and conveniently provided by reducing the diameter of the bearing rollers heretofore employed, either by cutting down such rollers, or by providing new rollers, discs or cylinder sections of smaller diameter. This construction is particularly advantageous since it requires a minimum of change in the present presses. Moreover, it eliminates the necessity for the surface hardening of such rollers, and thereby reduces the cost of such rollers. I

Pairs of gauge cylinders of the indicated type are advantageously provided at both ends of each pair of contacting cylinders, in combination with means for separately adjusting the spacing of said cylinders at-each end. This construction facilitates the maintenance of the rollers in exact parallelism after adjustment.

A feature of this arrangement is of means for determining the cylinder spacing which is independent of the adjusting mechanism and which, therefore, is not rendered inaccurate by any variations in such mechanism.

The improved construction is simple, strong, free from any tendency to get out of order, and the gauging can-be done without special skill or experience.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will appear from the following description considered in connection with the accompanying drawings, in which Fig. 1 is a transverse vertical section through the printing cylinders of an offset press on'line Il of Fig. 2, showing the associated adjusting and throw-out mechanism; and V Fig. 2 is an adjusted vertical section on line 2-2 of Fig. l with parts broken away.

The illustrated arrangement includes the plate cylinder ll], rubber transfer cylinder H and impression cylinder l2 of an offset printing or lithographing press. in the frame members l3, M for adjustment toward and from each other. For this purpose plate cylinder I0 is journaled in fixed position on said frame members. Transfer cylinder H is mounted in eccentric bearings I5 journaled in said frame members, each bearing having a laterally projecting integral arm l6 whose outer end is pivotally mounted through pivot stud I! on adjusting collar l8 held in vertically adjusted the provision The cylinders are all mounted position on link rod l9 by nuts threaded on said rod and engaging the upper and lower faces of collar l8. The lower end of each rod I9 is threaded into a head 20 and held in adjusted position therein by lock nut 2|, head 20 being pivoted through pivot stud 22 to rock arm 23 fixed to rock shaft 24 suitably journaled in the frame of the machine. Any suitable means is provided for rocking shaft 24, the usual arrangement including a rocking arm 25 fixed to said shaft and connected through link 26 to a suitable shifting handle (not shown) Impression cylinder l2 is mounted in eccentric bearings 30 journaled in frames l3, l4 and each provided with a downwardly extending arm 3| pivoted through stud 32 to head 33 into which link rod 34 is threaded, being held in adjusted position by lock nut 35. The other end of rod 34 is slidable in adjusting collar 36 which is held in adjusted position by nuts 31 threaded on rod 34 and engaging opposite faces of collar 36. Rock arm 38 is pivoted at one end to collar 36 by pivot stud 39 carried by the collar and is fixed at the other end to rock shaft 40 suitably journaled in the frame.

Suitable means is provided for rocking shaft 40, preferably in synchronism with shaft 24. A known arrangement for this purpose includes a rock arm 4| secured to shaft 40 and pivoted to link 42 connected to a suitable handle (not shown) which may be the handle to which link 26 is operatively connected. Turnbuckle 43 may be introduced in link 42 for making necessary adjustments.

This cylinder mounting and adjusting arrangement above described is of known type, and is adapted to shift cylinders H and I2 so that they will be out of contact with each other and with cylinder ID to prevent undesirable transfer of ink when no paper is located between the contiguous cylinders or when .the press is at rest. In addition to this function, the adjustment of collars I8 and 36 by means of nuts 20 and 31 will likewise serve to adjust the spacing of the cylinders in obvious manner, and thereby vary the pressure between adjacent cylinders.

Cylinder i0 is provided at each end with a roller 45, which is rigidly connected to the cylinder and may be integral therewith. In the form illustrated rollers 45 have the same location and construction as the usual bearing rollers, except for the reduced diameter already indicated. Cylinder II is provided with rollers 46 similarly constructed and arranged, and cylinder l2 carries rollers 41 which are likewise similar in construction and arrangement. Roller-s 45, 46 and 41 at each end of the train of cylinders are arranged in radial alignment and have accurate cylindrical surfaces concentric with the axes of their respective cylinders. Contiguous rollers 45 and 46 are spaced in normal operation by a very slight distance, which is varied by rotating the corresponding eccentric bearing 15 through adjustment of collar I8, which also changes the spacing between cylinders H1 and II and the pressure between these cylinders.

The parts are constructed and arranged so that the total range of variation in the spacing between rollers 45 and 46 will be within the limits measurable by standard feeler gauges. A similar clearance between associated rollers 46 and 41 is provided and has the same range of variations through adjustment of an eccentric bearing 30 by shifting a collar 36. It will be noted that the gaps between the rollers are located so that they may be conveniently measured with a suitable gauge, gauge blade 48 being shown in gauging position in Fig. 2.

The driving means for the cylinders I0, I! and I2 and their relationship to other parts of the press have been omitted, since they are standard and well known to those skilled in this art.

I have described what I believed to be the best embodiments of my invention. I do not wish, however, to be confined to the embodiments shown, but what I desire to secure by Letters Patentis set forth in the appended claims.

I claim:

1. In a cylinder press, a pair of associated cylinders in rolling engagement with each other, and means for adjusting the pressure between the cylinders comprising two gauge members each having a circular gauging face, each memher being connected coaxially to one of the cylinders and arranged with said faces in radial alignment and normally spaced by the thickness of a feeler gauge, and means for adjusting the spacing of the cylinder axes and of said faces, including bearings for the cylinders normally stationary during operation, arranged to maintain a predetermined spacing between the cylinder axes, the bearings for one cylinder being adjustable toward and from the axis of the other cylinder to adjust said spacing.

2. In a cylinder press, the construction set forth in claim 1, in which the gaugemembers are rigidlymounted at registering ends of the cylinders and are provided with juxtaposed cylindrical faces, and in which the adjustable bearings at opposite ends of a cylinder are independently adjustable.

3. In a cylinder press, a pair of associated cylinders in rolling engagement with each other, and means for adjusting the distance between the axes of the cylinders comprising means for adjusting the spacing of the cylinder axes at one end of the cylinder, means for independently adjusting the spacing of the cylinder axes at the other end of the cylinder, bearing means for nor mally maintaining a predetermined spacing between the cylinder axes during operation, and separate gauge means at each end of the cylinders for determining the spacing of such axes.

4. In a cylinder press, a pair of associated cylinders, bearings for said cylinders normally stationary during operation arranged to maintain a predetermined spacing between the cylinder axes, the bearings for. one cylinder being ad-; justable toward and from the axis of the other; cylinder, and two gauge members each having; a circular gauging face, each member being connected coaxially to one of the cylinders and arranged with said faces in radial alignment and normally spaced by the thickness of a feeler gauge.

RAY F. HOLTZ. 

